Minnesota's athletes in the 2018 Winter Olympics

Team Minnesota

By RACHEL BLOUNT • Star Tribune | Photos courtesy of Team USA

By RACHEL BLOUNT • Star Tribune
Photos courtesy of Team USA

Meet the 22 U.S. Olympians and two alternates who will keep state’s flame burning bright.

Alpine skiing

Lindsey Vonn

Burnsville • Age: 33
Olympic experience: Fourth
(2002, ’06, ’10)

In 2010, Vonn became the only American woman to win an Olympic downhill. A serious knee injury prevented her from defending her title in 2014, and since then,she also has dealt with a fractured knee and nerve damage from a broken arm. She has persevered, increasing her World Cup victory total to 81—the most ever by a woman, only five short of Ingemar Stenmark’s record. Despite a back injury in December, Vonn has won four races this season, including the past three downhills. Events: Women’s super-G, downhill, alpine combined.

Biathlon

Leif Nordgren

Marine on St. Croix • Age: 28
Olympic experience: Second (2014)

Nordgren began cross-country skiing as a toddler, giving him a solid base when he started competing in biathlon — which combines cross-country with shooting — in 2007. The Forest Lake High School graduate competed in four events at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, highlighted by a 16th-place finish in the relay. A bronze medalist in pursuit at the 2008 youth world championships, Nordgren has top-10 finishes with the U.S. men’s relay team in the past two world championships. Events: Men’s 10k sprint, 12.5k pursuit, 4x7.5-kilometer relay

Cross-country skiing

Jessie Diggins

Afton • Age: 26
Olympic experience: Second (2014)

A three-time Minnesota state high school champion in Nordic skiing, Diggins is one of the most successful American women in her sport’s history. Her four world championship medals are the most by any U.S. skier, male or female. This year, she was third at the Tour de Ski, the first podium finish ever by a North American woman. At the 2014 Olympics, she had top-10 finishes in the skiathlon (eighth) and women’s relay (ninth, the top Olympic placing in history for a U.S. women’s relay team). Events: Women’s skiathlon, 10k freestyle, 4x5k relay, team sprint.

Cross-country skiing

Rosie Frankowski

Minneapolis • Age: 26
Olympic experience: First

Frankowski earned her place on the team with a breakthrough at the 2018 U.S. championships in Anchorage, where she now lives. The Southwest High School graduate finished third in the women’s 20-kilometer classic mass start, capturing her first national championship. She was an All-America Nordic skier at Northern Michigan before joining the elite racing team at Alaska Pacific University. She is an adjunct professor at APU and activities coordinator for Anchorage Downtown Partnership. Events: Women’s 30k classic mass start.

Twitter: None

Cross-country skiing

Anne Hart

Stillwater • Age: 25
Olympic experience: First

A graduate of St. Paul Academy, Hart was among 10 discretionary picks for the U.S. cross-country Olympic team. In 2010, she lost the state high school individual championship to Diggins by seven tenths of a second; their battle in the 5K classic is considered the most exciting race in Minnesota high school Nordic skiing history. Hart competed at Dartmouth College, where she was a five-time All-America. She now is a teammate of Diggins with the SMS T2 ski team in Stratton, Vermont. Events: Women’s classic sprint

Curling

John Shuster

Chisholm • Age: 35
Olympic experience: Fourth
(2006, ’10, ’14)

Cut from USA Curling’s first national team combine in 2014, Shuster didn’t mope. The longtime Duluth resident — now living in Superior, Wis. — started his own team and rose to new heights. An Olympic bronze medalist with Pete Fenson’s team in 2006, Shuster skipped the U.S. to top-five finishes at the world championships in each of the past three years, including bronze in 2016. He was the winning skip at the past three U.S. Olympic trials and is the first American man to make four Olympic curling teams.

Curling

Tyler George

Duluth • Age: 35
Olympic experience: First

George practically grew up at the Duluth Curling Club, managed by his parents during his youth. But it took Team Shuster’s vice skip several tries to make it to the Olympics. A former skip, George lost to Shuster in the finals at the 2010 Olympic trials, and the Duluth liquor-store manager was considering taking a year off from the sport when he was invited to join Shuster’s team in 2014. His superb shotmaking and strategic savvy have been instrumental to pushing Team Shuster to a top-25 world ranking.

Curling

John Landsteiner

Duluth • Age: 27
Olympic experience: Second (2014)

The lone holdover from Shuster’s 2014 Olympic team, Landsteiner wasn’t sure whether he wanted to commit to another four-year quest toward a second Winter Games. Shuster convinced him to continue, and he remains a steady presence as the team’s lead. A native of Mapleton, Minn., Landsteiner is the foursome’s youngest and quietest member, but his big-event experience has been invaluable during Team Shuster’s runs to two U.S. titles and three top-five finishes at the world championships.

Curling (alternate)

Joe Polo

Duluth • Age: 35
Olympic experience: Second (2006)

Like Shuster, Polo was a member of the Pete Fenson rink that earned Olympic bronze in 2006 — still the only Olympic curling medal in United States history. A six-time U.S. champion, he has been the alternate for Team Shuster for the past two seasons. Polo has competed in six world championship events and teamed with Tabitha Peterson for bronze at the 2016 world mixed doubles championship. His baby daughter, Ailsa, is named for the Scottish island where granite is quarried for curling stones.

Curling

Tabitha Peterson

St. Paul • Age: 28
Olympic experience: First

An Eagan native, Peterson is a longtime member of the St. Paul Curling Club and still plays in leagues there. The vice-skip for Team Nina Roth fell just short of the Olympics in 2014, finishing as runner-up at the Olympic trials, and is now part of a finely-tuned team ranked 13th in the world. Peterson, a pharmacist, is a cool, consistent player who has competed in four world championships. Her international experience includes a World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2010.

Curling

Aileen Geving

Duluth • Age: 30
Olympic experience: First

Geving learned to curl at age 10 from her father, Seppo Sormunen, a successful Finnish-born curler at the club and senior levels. She was a prodigy, skipping a team at the 2006 Olympic trials when she was only 18. Joining Team Roth in 2015 finally got Geving to the Winter Games, after falling short at three previous Olympic trials. A Minnesota Duluth graduate who works in the insurance industry, she helped her team to a fifth-place finish at the 2017 world championships.

Twitter: None

Curling (alternate)

Cory Christensen

Duluth • Age: 23
Olympic experience: First

The youngest skip at the Olympic trials, Christensen was chosen as the fifth player for Team Roth — repeating a role she played at the 2017 world championships. A four-time U.S. champion at the junior level, she was USA Curling’s 2016 female athlete of the year after earning a silver medal at the world junior championships. Christensen, who has extensive international experience, is taking a break from studies at UMD to be a full-time curler through the 2017-18 competition season.

Men’s hockey

Jordan Greenway

Canton, N.Y./Wild prospect • Age: 20
Olympic experience: First

Greenway’s size — a hulking 6-6, 227 pounds — and his extensive history with USA Hockey made him an early choice for an Olympic team with no NHL players. Picked by the Wild in the second round (50th overall) of the 2015 NHL draft, the junior at Boston University was a big part of U.S. gold medals at the 2015 under-18 world championships and 2017 world junior championships. Greenway, who played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, is the first African-American to be named to the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team.

Men’s hockey

Ryan Stoa

Bloomington/Gophers • Age: 30
Olympic experience: First

Stoa last wore a USA Hockey sweater at the 2007 world junior championships, during a Gophers career in which he won a WCHA scoring title and earned All-America status as a senior. The former U captain was picked by Colorado in the second round of the 2005 NHL draft and played 40 games in the league during five years as a pro in North America. Stoa has spent the past four seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, where he was an all-star last season, generating 14 goals and 14 assists for Moscow Spartak.

Twitter: None

Men’s hockey

Will Borgen

Moorhead/St. Cloud State • Age: 21
Olympic experience: First

Only three years ago, Borgen was captain of the Moorhead Spuds. He is now taking a break from his junior season at St. Cloud State to play in the Olympics. One of four college players on the U.S. men’s team, Borgen is a rugged stay-at-home defenseman who helped the Americans win bronze at the 2016 world junior championships. He was chosen in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL draft (92nd overall) by Buffalo and has made the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s all-rookie and all-academic teams.

Men’s hockey

Garrett Roe

Vienna, Va./St. Cloud State • Age: 29
Olympic experience: First

In four years at St. Cloud State (2007-11), Roe developed into one of the top forwards in the WCHA. His 113 assists are the most in Huskies history, and he is third in points (178) and seventh in goals (65). Drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, he did not play in the NHL, but his pro career in Europe has included stints in four countries. Roe played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s and currently plays for EV Zug in the Swiss League. He has 12 goals and 34 assists in 41 games of the 2017-18 season after getting 16 and 21 in 49 games the previous season.

Women’s hockey

Hannah Brandt

Vadnais Heights/Gophers • Age: 24
Olympic experience: First

The leading scorer in Gophers history was one of the last players cut from the United States roster before the 2014 Olympics. She has since become a mainstay of the forward corps, scoring four goals in 10 games to help the U.S. to world championships in 2015 and 2017. Brandt finished her Gophers career with 286 points and has 34 points in 54 games with USA Hockey teams. Her sister, Marissa — who played at Gustavus Adolphus — is a member of South Korea’s Olympic women’s hockey team.

Women’s hockey

Gigi Marvin

Warroad/Gophers • Age: 30
Olympic experience: Third (2010, ’14)

The oldest player on the U.S. roster, Marvin — who will turn 31 in March — was sidelined after the 2014 Olympics because of debilitating hip problems. She returned to international play at the 2017 world championships in as fine a form as ever. A five-time gold medalist at the world championships, Marvin has played both forward and defense this season and was the National Women’s Hockey League defensive player of the year in 2015-16. She has played 115 games for the U.S. dating to 2006.

Women’s hockey

Dani Cameranesi

Plymouth/Gophers • Age: 22
Olympic experience: First

Cameranesi finished a stellar Gophers career last spring, amassing 201 points and two NCAA titles. She did not make the roster for the 2017 world championships, following a senior season interrupted by an ankle injury. But in May, she was named to the U.S. national team for the first time since 2015, and she contributed a goal and four assists to help win the Four Nations Cup in November. Minnesota’s Ms. Hockey in 2013 at Blake, Cameranesi has 30 points in 41 games of international play.

Women’s hockey

Lee Stecklein

Roseville/Gophers • Age: 23
Olympic experience: Second (2014)

In 2014, Stecklein was the kid on the U.S. Olympic roster, a surprise pick who made her Winter Games debut at age 19. She returns as a mature, well-rounded player with 44 games of senior international experience. A three-time NCAA champion with the Gophers, Stecklein is an imposing physical presence — at 6-0, she is the team’s tallest player — and is known for her reliability, unselfishness and leadership. She is also a graduate of the U’s prestigious Carlson School of Management.

Women’s hockey

Maddie Rooney

Andover/Minnesota Duluth • Age: 20
Olympic experience: First

After a strong sophomore season at UMD, Rooney made her senior international debut at the world championships last March — and earned a shutout against Russia in her first game. She has since become the top goalie for Team USA and was the only one to post a victory over Canada in a six-game pre-Olympic series. Rooney led the Andover girls’ team to its first state high school tournament appearance ever in 2014, then played on the Huskies boys’ team as a senior.

Women’s hockey

Amanda Kessel

Madison, Wis./Gophers • Age: 26
Olympic experience: Second (2014)

It appeared Kessel’s career might have ended with a loss in the gold medal game at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lingering post-concussion symptoms kept her off the ice for two years — until a remarkable comeback with the Gophers that ended with an NCAA title in 2016. Kessel tied for the team lead in Sochi with three goals and six points, and she had six points at the 2017 world championships, her first international tournament in three years. Her 248 career points are second-most in Gophers history.

Women’s hockey

Kelly Pannek

Plymouth/Gophers • Age: 22
Olympic experience: First

Had Pannek not made the U.S. national team roster in May, she would be playing her senior season with the Gophers this winter. Her college career was placed on hold after a magnificent 2016-17 led to a spot on the U.S. team for last spring’s world championships. A first-team All-America last season, Pannek was second in the nation in scoring (62 points) and first in assists (43). All that made her a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. The Benilde-St. Margaret’s graduate has 155 points in 120 games at the U.

Women’s hockey

Sidney Morin

Minnetonka/Minnesota Duluth • Age: 22
Olympic experience: First

A late addition to the U.S. roster, Morin didn’t factor into the Olympic picture until Nov. 27. She made a big enough impression to survive the final cuts. The 2017 WCHA defensive player of the year, Morin is fifth on UMD’s career charts for most goals by a defenseman (19) and sixth in assists by a defenseman (51). She was a three-time state champion at Minnetonka High School. Before joining the U.S. national team, she had 10 goals and 22 assists in 21 games for MODO of the Swedish Women’s League.